Slicing machine



R. L. PAPPY.

SLICING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 1uLY16, i919.

1,403, 19, Patented Jan. 17,1922.

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' R. L. PAPPY.

SLICING MACHINE.

APPLICATION man 11mm, 1919.

" Patented Jan. 17, 1922.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT L. PAPPY, OF DAYTONA, FLORIDA, ASSIGNOR TO EAST COAST PRESERVINGCOMPANY, OF DAYTONA, FLORIDA, A FIRM.

SLICING MACHINE.

Application filed July 16,

To all w'hon't it may concern:

Beit known that 1. ROBERT L. PAPPY, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of the city of Daytona, in the county of Volusia and State ofFlorida, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in SlicingMachines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, formingpart of this specification.

My invention relates to machines for she ing fruits, and particularlythe softer fruits, such as oranges and grape fruit.

In the treatment of such soft fruits oranges, grape fruit, lemons andthe like, the great difficulty is to get a clean slicing which isuniform, without mashing up the fruit or crushing it, and the principalobject of my machine is to provide an apparatus or machine which willaccomplish a proper slicing of such soft round fruits.

In addition to the fundamental object above noted, it is my purpose inthis invention to provide a machine which is capable of sufficient speedin operation to'be efficient and of considerable safety against injuryto the operator. V 1

These objects and. other advantages to be noted I accomplish by thatcertain construction'and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter morespecifically pointed out and claimed.

In the drawing Figure 1 is atop plan view of the device.

Figure 2 is a end elevation thereof taken from the driving end of theshaft.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the machine.

Figure 4 is a detail vertical section of the post for detachablyretaining the shaft. 7 The machine as shown in the example selected forillustration of the principles of my invention comprises a table 1,which mounts at one end a motor 2, carrying a rapidly revolving knifedisk 3. It is this disk which slices the fruit, andv the balance of themechanism deals with the means for mounting the fruit and feeding itagainst the knife,

The shaft which is fed towardthe knife is" shown in this embodiment ofthe machine at 4, and is provided with two journals,

one of which isswiveled, and the other of which is provided with a latchfor auto- Specification of Letters Patent Patented Jan. 17, 1922.

1919. Serial No. 311,206.

matically opening and engaging the shaft during the operation of themachine as will be noted. 1 I

Describing first the latch device, there is a hollow or grooved post 5,within whi h a plunger or latch 6, pressedupwardly by a springT. Thehousing is mounted in the table by means of a suitable fitting 8,- andis located toward the endof the machine away from the slicing blade. Theupper end of the hollow post isprovided with a partial journal member 9for the shaft 4, and the latch is formed at its upper edge with ajournal face 9 to match the face 9 and practically complete the journalfor the shaft. The latch further has a beveled contact surface 10 which,when the shaft is forced against it, will cause a depression of saidlatch. p v 7 In order to'provide the largest possible amount of bearingsurface for the shaft in the latch member, I provide for an arcuate pathfor said member to'assume during'its depression. This path is providedfor by means of a pin 11 in the latch anda curved slot 12 in both sidesof the post to receive said pin. The latch has an operating finger 6 bywhich the: operator can depress it to release the shaft, and at its,lowerend the slot '12is formed large enough at 12, so that the pin 11may be inserted by forcing down the latch beyond the point to which itwill be carried after the handle is mounted thereon. l

In advance of the latch post for supporting the shaft is the swiveledpost 13, which has secured fast or integral with its'upper end thesleeve '14. This sleeve is cut away as to its upper half adjacentthe-middle portion thereof and is'provided with a movable member, 16,which is movable to complete the shaft housing of the sleeve. Thismemher is hinged at 15 and is threaded at 15 at the portion where itenters the cut-away part of the sleeve. It has also a handle 17 Byraising this member, the shaft a is free to slide in thesleeve, but whenit is depressed the threads thereon engage'the threaded member, whichwill permit the easy sliding of the shaft to whatever position isdesired.

While I do not wish to confine my invention to the exact form of threadon the shaft and the threaded member, or split nut member, I find itvaluable to provide a flat topped thread in order to cut down wear,--thus a U. S. standard thread cut on an H,- inch rodr For receiving thefruit, the end of the shaft is provided with a dish-shaped plate 18, atthe center of which extend a plurality of prongs 19. I refer three innumber. The shaft is further provided with lock nuts 20 for limiting themotion thereof to the right, and the nuts 21 for limiting its motiontoward the left; considering the ma chine placed as shown in thedrawings.

The end of the shaft away from the slicing knife is equipped with afriction wheel 22, having a handle 23for manual operation. Formechanical operation, a drum 24 is mounted on the table of the machinein a position to frictionally revolve the wheel 22. This drum may bedriven by a shaft 26, that receives its power from a belt 27 and ulley28 on the motor that drives the kni e.

As so constructed, the operation of the device is as follows. Theoperator first releases the latch device so that the pronged end of theshaft can be swung around toward him and away from the knife. He thenmounts the fruit on the prongs pushing it home against the dishedbacking plate. The shaft easily swings on the swiveled post that carriesthe split nut device, and when the fruit is mounted is swung back,thereby automatically trippingthe latch and entering the journal in thelatch post. Maintaining the split nut or threaded member out ofoperation, the shaft is thrust forward to a point thatwill bring thefruit fairly close to the knife. The threaded member is then lowered andheld down by the operator and the friction wheel, or manual operation bymeans of the handle, will feedfthe fruit slowly. forward as controlledby the threads.

on the shaft.

The knife is set so that it will just clear the prongs, which saidprongs should take fruit in a up but little more space than the core ofthe fruit. The revolution of the knife and the fruit will then cause aslicing of the continuous thin sliver of a depth equal to the threads onthe shaft. dished backing plate for the fruit is quite essential, as tholds the fruit against being forced out of shape, andprovides a fairlvlarge bearing surface for. the end of the fruit away from the knife.

The nuts' are arranged so. that the feed s stopped just before the knifewould be in a position to strike the dished backing The.

lieved to be obvious without full explanation. The reason for thefrictional drive is among other things to permit the friction wheel. totravel over the drum while it is revolvin It should be clearlyunderstood that either hand or mechanical operation can be used.

The machine can work very rapidly,and does an efiicient slicing-of softfruits.

It is not desired that my invention be limited to the precise structureof the latch member, or the. threaded member which forces the shaft totravel. Other mechanical devices for accomplishing a like movement couldreadily be used, my selection for illustration being of parts which aresimple of construction and have been proven out as effective inpractical work.

Having thus described my invention, what, I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is:' V l 1. In a fruit slicer, the combinationwith a rotating knife and a rotatable holder. for the fruit. mounted onshafts parallel to-but offset from; each other,-and means for ad vancingthe holder toward the knife and simultaneously rotating the fruit, saidmeans adapted to-rotate the fruit through a complete rotation for eachfrictional part of an inch of advance, and said rotating knife adaptedto cut into the fruit on a line perpendicular to the axis .of the fruit.

2. In a fruitslicer, the combination with a threaded shaft and arevolving knife, of a swiveled journal for said shaft, having removablethreaded means adapted .to be brought into engagement with the threadsof the shaft for forcing it to advance toward the knife, and anadditional journal for the shaft having, a releasable element to disengage the shaft.

3. In a fruit slicer, the combination with a threaded shaft and arevolving knife, of a swiveled journal for said shaft,having removablethreaded means adapted to be brought into engagement with the threads ofthe shaft for forcing it to advance toward the knife, and an additionaljournalfor the shaft having a releasable element to disen gage theshaft, said additional journal com} prising a support, a partial journalformed thereon, and a slidable member on thesupport, having acomplementary journal face.

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4. In a fruit slicer, the combination with a threaded shaft and arevolving knife, of a swiveled journal for said shaft, having removablethreaded means adapted to be brought into engagement with the threads ofthe shaft for forcing it to advance toward the knife, and an additionaljournal for the shaft having a releasable element to disengage theshaft, said additional journal comprising a support, a partial journalformed thereon, and a slid'able member on the support, having acomplementary journal face, said slidable member being spring-pressedtoward position to complete the journal, and having a beveled face tocause said member to open upon the shaft being forced against it.

5/111 a machine of the character described, the combination withswiveled means for j ournaling a fruit carrying shaft, of a secondjournal for said shaft comprising a post having a journal formedtherein, said journal being in two parts, one of which is slidable onthe other, and a curved guide for the sliding connection of saidslidablepart of the journal, for the pur pose described.

6. In a machine of the character de'- scribed, the combination of ashaft supported thereon, and an operated knife supported thereoncomprising a circular disk set off 'the center of the shaft, means forrevolving the shaft, a threaded portion for the shaft, and a releasablemeans for engaging said threaded portion to bring about an advancementof the shaft.

7. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a shaftsupported thereon, and an operated knife supported thereon comprising acircular disk set off the center of the shaft, means for revolving theshaft, a threaded portion for the shaft, and a releasable means forengaging said threaded portion to bring about an advancement of theshaft, said means for revolving the shaft adapted to. permit same totravel with the shaft, and comprising a friction wheel on the shaft, anda friction drum driven by the desired source of power.

8. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a shaft.supported thereon, and an operated knife supported thereon comprising acircular disk set off the center of the shaft, means for re volving theshaft, a threaded portion for the shaft, anda releasable means forengaging said threaded portion to bring about an advancement of theshaft, said shaft having a fruit support comprising a prong element anda dished backing plate at the base of the prongs.

ROBERT L. PAPPY.

